troubles now. And the last words I ever heard him say was to reproach--"

But this memory was too much for the old lady, and she broke entirely

down. Tom was snuffling, now, himself--and more in pity of himself than

anybody else. He could hear Mary crying, and putting in a kindly word

for him from time to time. He began to have a nobler opinion of himself

than ever before. Still, he was sufficiently touched by his aunt's

grief to long to rush out from under the bed and overwhelm her with

joy--and the theatrical gorgeousness of the thing appealed strongly to

his nature, too, but he resisted and lay still.

He went on listening, and gathered by odds and ends that it was

conjectured at first that the boys had got drowned while taking a swim;

then the small raft had been missed; next, certain boys said the

missing lads had promised that the village should "hear something"

soon; the wise-heads had "put this and that together" and decided that

the lads had gone off on that raft and would turn up at the next town

below, presently; but toward noon the raft had been found, lodged

against the Missouri shore some five or six miles below the village

--and then hope perished; they must be drowned, else hunger would have

driven them home by nightfall if not sooner. It was believed that the

search for the bodies had been a fruitless effort merely because the

drowning must have occurred in mid-channel, since the boys, being good

swimmers, would otherwise have escaped to shore. This was Wednesday

night. If the bodies continued missing until Sunday, all hope would be

given over, and the funerals would be preached on that morning. Tom

156

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer